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VIRGINIA. 



so-called Confederate Government, or under 

 any rebellious State government, or who has 

 been a member of the so-called Confederate 

 Congress, or a member of any State Legislature 

 in rebellion against the authority of the United 

 States, excepting therefrom county officers." 



The bill was passed unanimously in the House 

 under a suspension of the rules, and subse- 

 quently agreed to by the Senate. 



A joint resolution was unanimously passed in 

 the House praying the President of the United 

 States to release Jefferson Davis and all political 

 prisoners. The following is an extract : 



We most respectfully recommend to his Excellency, 

 Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, to 

 release from confinement Jefferson Davis, and to re- 

 store to him his civil rights as a distinguished testi- 

 monial to the world of the magnanimity, forbearance, 

 and sagacious wisdom of a great Republic, based on 

 the enlightened freedom of independent States, and 

 cemented by the compact of its illustrious founders. 

 That we further recommend the release of all political 

 prisoners, the restoration of the writ of habeas corpus, 

 not only as a solid guaranty of restored peace, but as 

 permitting the States to stand reunited, looking to 

 the Constitution created by our fathers for their pro- 

 tection and safety, with the renewed assurance that 

 Virginia will enter with mutual confidence and recip- 

 rocal good faith with her sister States upon her du- 

 ties under the Constitution enacted a_nd sustained by 

 the spirit and teachings of her illustrious son, George 

 Washington. 



The session of the Legislature was extended 

 into the ensuing year, and an immense number 

 of bills of local interest were passed. Bills were 

 also passed legalizing the marriage of negroes ; 

 repealing all laws relating to slaves and slavery ; 

 admitting them as witnesses in civil cases in 

 which colored persons are interested, and in all 

 criminal cases. Qualifications for suffrage were 

 confined to white males of twenty-one years of 

 age and upwards, who had resided in the State 

 t\vo years, and paid the taxes assessed upon them. 

 For the action of the Legislature relative to 

 West Virginia (see that title). The following 

 resolutions relative to reconstruction were 

 adopted, and a committee appointed to present 

 them to President Johnson : 



1. Resolved by the General Assembly of Virginia, 

 That the people of this Commonwealth, and their 

 representatives here assembled, cordially approve 

 the policy pursued by Andrew Johnson, President of 

 the United States, in the reorganization of the Union. 

 We accept the result of the late contest, and do not 

 desire to renew what has been so conclusively deter- 

 mined ; nor do we mean to permit any one subject to 

 our control to attempt its renewal, or to violate any 

 of our obligations to the United States Government. 

 We mean to cooperate in the wise, firm, and just 

 policy adopted by the President, with all the energy 

 and power we can devote to that object. 



2. That the above declaration expresses the senti- 

 ments and purposes of all our people, and we de- 

 nounce the efforts of those who represent our views 

 and intentions to be different, as cruel and criminal 

 assaults on our character and our interests. It is 

 one of the misfortunes of our present political con- 

 dition, that we have among us persons whose inter- 

 ests are temporarily promoted by such false mis- 

 representations; but we rely on tne intelligence and 

 integrity of those who wield the power of the United 

 States Government for our safeguard against such 

 malign influences. 



3. That involuntary servitude, except for crime, 

 is abolished, and ought not to be reestablished, and 

 that the negro race among us should be treated with 

 justice, humanity, and good faith, and every means 

 that the wisdom of the Legislature can devise should 

 be used to make them useful and intelligent mem- 

 bers of society. 



4. That Virginia will not voluntarily consent to 

 change the adjustment of political power as fixed by 

 the Constitution of the United States, and to con- 

 strain her to do so in her present prostrate and help- 

 less condition, with no voice in the councils of the 

 nation, would be an unjustifiable breach of faith 

 and that her earnest thanks are due to the President 

 for the firm stand he has taken against amendments 

 of the Constitution forced through in the present 

 condition of affairs. 



An act was also passed subjecting the follow- 

 ing described persons to the penalties of va- 

 grancy : 



1. All persons who shall unlawfully return into 

 any county or corporation whence th'ey have been 

 legally removed. 



2. All persons who, not having wherewith to main- 

 tain themselves and their families, live idly and with- 

 out employment, and refuse to work for the usual 

 and common wages given to other laborers in the 

 like work in the place where they then are. 



3. All persons who shall refuse to perform the 

 work which shall be allotted to them by the overseer 

 of the poor as aforesaid. 



4. All persons going about from door to door, or 

 placing themselves in streets, highways, or other 

 roads, to beg alms, and all other persons wandering 

 abroad and begging. 



5. All persons who shall come from any place 

 without this Commonwealth to any place within it, 

 and shall be found loitering and residing therein, and 

 shall follow no labor, trade, occupation, or business, 

 and can give no reasonable account of themselves 

 or their business in such place. 



The overseers of the poor, or the special 

 county police, upon discovering vagrants 

 within then* respective counties, were required 

 to make a complaint before a justice of the 

 peace, who, if the charge proved to be true, 

 was required to order such person to be hired 

 out for three months upon the best terms that 

 could be obtained, to be applied to the use of 

 the vagrant and his family, after payment of 

 costs. If a vagrant abandoned the service, or 

 ran away and was recovered, he was required 

 to work an additional month without wages, 

 and if necessary confined with ball and chain, 

 etc. 



On January 24, 1866, Major-General Terry 

 issued an order " that no magistrate, civil offi- 

 cer, or other person shall, in any way or man- 

 ner, apply, or attempt to apply, the provisions 

 of the said statute to any colored person in this 

 department." His objections were thus stated : 



The said statute specifies the persons who shall be 

 considered vagrants and be liable to the penalties 

 imposed by it. Among those declared to be vagrants 

 are "all persons who, not having the wherewith to 

 support their families, live idly and without employ- 

 ment, and refuse to work for the usual and common 

 wages given to other laborers in the like work in the 

 place where they then are." 



In many counties of this State, meetings of em- 

 ployers have been held, and unjust and wrongful 

 combinations have been entered into for the purpose 

 of depressing the wages of the freedmen below the 



